Director of "Shanghai Noon"

June 02, 2000

Tom Dey, director of "Shanghai Noon," chats about his transition from commercial directing to feature film and what he learned from working with Jackie Chan.

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CheckOut.com: Welcome to a chat with "Shanghai Noon" director Tom Dey! This hilarious new action/comedy marks his feature film debut. Welcome to CheckOut.com and Talk City!

Tom Dey: Hi! Thank you very much for that introduction, and welcome, everyone who's online here!

CO-John: I read that this is your debut directing film. How is a director chosen for a movie?

Tom Dey: I was directing commercials for about five years, and there's been a trend recently for studios to hire commercial directors to direct feature films. I have been reading a lot of scripts, and this particular script came along and I thought it was a great story. So, I agreed to meet with the producers and we talked about how I envisioned shooting the script, and they seemed to respond favorably to my ideas. Then, before I knew it, I was on a plane to Hong Kong to meet Jackie. It all happened very quickly!

Curious1: How is directing a film different than directing a commercial?

Tom Dey: Well, directing a commercial is like a sprint, and a movie is like a marathon. So, there's a big difference in terms of the amount of time it takes, obviously. But a more important distinction is that commercials belong to a kind of disposable culture, whereas movies are around forever. So, when you're directing a movie you're making decisions every day that you have to live with for the rest of your life! (smile) But probably the biggest difference is that with a movie you're telling a story over the course of 105 minutes, so the challenge as a commercial director is to maintain a vision of that much greater story.

Dill: When did you decide you wanted to direct?

Tom Dey: I guess it was toward the end of college. I began to take some film studies classes, and then I decided to go to a film school in Paris. At that time I knew I wanted to work in film, I just didn't know in what capacity. After Paris, I came to Los Angeles and I went to the American Film Institute as a cinematography student. When I finished AFI and nobody would hire me to shoot any of their movies, I decided that I might as well be a director. (smile) After AFI, Ridley Scott Associates, a commercial production company, hired me to direct commercials. It was really in that environment where I began to see the possibilities for moving from commercials into film.

Wonder: What is your favorite kind of film?

Tom Dey: My favorite kind of film is the kind that has a great story with characters that I really care about. I don't really have a favorite genre. I don't mean to avoid the question, but I really love many kinds of movies. I'm drawn to movies that are honest and have something to say.

CO-Fluff N Fold: The casting of Owen Wilson was inspired. How did he get involved in the project?

Tom Dey: Owen was on the producer's list and my list of potential co-stars and co-leads. We were really drawn to him because A) he's a great actor, and B) he's a very good screen writer. I was looking to make his character very contemporary. Owen does that very well.

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